The European Union support to Palestinian women’s creativity is evident in the ten “I am Palestinian” films produced by “Shashat Woman Cinema” an independent Palestinian cinema NGO in the EU funded project, “Yalla nshouf film!”

The films were made by ten young Palestinian women filmmakers- four from Gaza, five from the West Bank and one from Jerusalem, who received mentoring and production support to tell stories exploring the personal dimension of belonging and identity through the diverse and rich experiences of Palestinian women.

The films include Ala Dasoki’s The Ghoul, on war as the mythical demon grandmothers warned against who kidnaps children from their mothers in death, while Feda Naser struggles to define her identity in I wish I weren’t Palestinian resulting from her personal experiences of social and political restrictions realizing that she cannot be other than Palestinian, part of the land and the continuity of her family. Asmaa Al-Masri in A Day follows the life of four of her female friends in Gaza City in their work and outings, and Maissa Alshaer follows another three of her friends, Sabaya Kilimanjaro, in their journey to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro Mountain.

The films add creative depth to the relationships to people, objects, feelings, places and tales in their exploration of the spatial and temporal dimension and potentialities of Palestinian women’s lives. They use different cinematic expressions and styles including animation, modern dance, folk stories, legends and diaries.

The films were launched in “Shashat 11th Woman Film Festival in Palestine” They have also been screened in European cinemas and film festivals in France, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy as well as in India, Bangladesh and the US.

For more information:

Shashat website